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Gimlet Gets the Answer/plot
Author's Note: Cyprus A description of the geogaphy and history of Cyprus. Chapter I: A Racketeer Comes East Major Charles from the Security Section of the "Intelligence Office" briefs Gimlet and his team on a tricky and possibly dangerous case. An American gangster Nicolou Kniftos (or "Knifey") had somehow offended the American underworld and been put "on the spot". Fearing for his life, he had fled the U.S. and had been hiding in a remote mountain cottage in Cyprus. Recently, he had made several trips to the U.S. and seemed to have become very wealthy. Now he is on his way back from the U.S. to Cyprus again and this time on a private yacht, the Sandra. More puzzling, Knifey is accompanied by six dangerous gangsters. All of them should have been Knifey's enemies. Yet somehow they are cooperating. What is happening? And what racket is there in Cyprus to attract them? Because of such a large gathering of gangsters, it is more a military operation rather than one for the regular police. Hence Major Charles is asking Gimlet to get the answer. Chapter II: The Sandra Arrives Arriving at Cyprus, Gimlet and co. do a preliminary reconnaissance of the Casa Stephanita, Knifey's cottage. There is an unusual large outbuilding with no windows and a Yale lock on the door. The group then splits up, with each watching a different port for the arrival of the Sandra. Cub is assigned to watch Famagusta. The Sandra arrives there. Knifey and three other men disembark and go off in a hired car. Cub is unable to follow and notifies Gimlet. Chapter III: Cub Takes a Chance Cub swims out to the Sandra and sneaks onto the deck where two men are lounging. They mention that one "Rocheter" who has the money and owns the yacht. One of the men says Rocheter wants "the big stuff". He, on the other hand, prefers his "dames" alive. Neither Cub nor Gimlet understand the discussion. Chapter IV: A Little White Hand Major Charles wires Gimlet saying that the yacht owner was one Silas K. Rocheter, a big gambler and collector of works of art. Gimlet and Cub proceed to the Casa Stefanita. There is nobody there but they find a "Camel" brand cigarette wrapper. Going up the mountain path beyond the cottage, the see a charcoal-burner's hut guarded by an angry, half-staved dog. The hut doesn't look lived in for a while. They find lots of Camel brand cigarette butts. Gimlet digs a bullet out of the wall. Outside, Cub finds a small, white, marble hand. He thinks it came from part of a doll. They hide when they hear voices. It's Knifey and his party passing by. Rocheter wants to search the area for the white hand and says he will give a thousand dollars to whoever finds it. But Knifey counters that it is getting dark. Chapter V: Dramatic Developments The next morning, Gimlet and Cub park their car at the village of Myania, intending to follow Knifey as he and his gang depart their cottage for the mountain. Unfortunately Gimlet and Cub are delayed by the village policeman, Samodes, who insists on showing them the local sights. Gimlet and Cub misses Knifey's gang, but at the charcoal-burner's hut, they meet a man in a blue suit and bowler hat. He's the charcoal-burner's son and his father had summoned him back urgently. Not finding his father, he goes further up into the mountains to look for him. Gimlet now has an epiphany. The dog has been digging something. He excavates with a spade and finds the body of the charcoal-burner, obviously murdered by Knifey. Then, up the mountains, they hear a gunshot. The man in the blue suit is running and then falls into a ravine. Chapter VI: A Policeman Talks There's no choice, they have to inform Samodes the policeman because the man may have survived the fall. Samodes sends some foresters to search. Meanwhile, he tells Gimlet that the charcoal-burner's name is Socrates Paprapoulos and his son is Nestor. Socrates had been eking extra income by searching for and selling ancient relics which he digs from some ruins in the mountains. Resuming their surveillance of the mountain path, they see Knifey's gang bring what appears to be a body wrapped in cloth. They talk about having to "handle her carefully". Chapter VII: Cub Gets a Fright Knifey and gang put their load inside the outbuilding so Cub climbs up and looks in through a skylight. He gets a shock. It's the body of a dead woman! Chapter VIII: Gimlet Goes Alone The next morning Gimlet and Cub go up the mountain path again. At Socrates' hut, they bump into Rocheter and Knifey. It turns out Knifey knows Samodes. The policeman had been asking about Nestor's fall and has also told him about two English tourists. Rocheter claims they have purchased shooting rights to the area. Knifey is hostile and tells Gimlet to leave. He might go shooting and Gimlet might meet with an "accident". Gimlet and Cub turn back. They fetch their car from Myania and make as though they are going off for good. Instead, they hide the car and mount surveillance on Knifey's house. Towards evening they see Knifey's gang going back with another body wrapped in cloth. Gimlet and Cub now make their way further up the mountain path and spend the night rough. They continue the climb next morning and come across some ruins. But there is no sign of Knifey the whole day. Then they hear a strange moaning sound which comes from a deep pit. It sounds like people talking. The sound comes from a cave or tunnel and is being amplified and distorted by the pit. Gimlet goes down the steps into the pit to explore. Cub is to wait on top. Chapter IX: Alarums and Excursions Night falls and still Gimlet has not returned. Cub is worried and goes down the pit to look. He passes some catacombs and then the tunnel splits into two. One branch is blocked by a rockfall. The other branch ends in a chasm. Across it, Cub sees a narrow ledge and another opening which looks like it had once been a continuation of his tunnel but had been split by an earthquake which created a ravine in between. He sees two of Knifey's gang enter the opening. Coming out of the pit, Cub meets Copper. He and Trapper have come to report that the Sandra have moved. From the runis, they could now see it anchored offshore. Chapter X: Hard Labour Cub realises that Gimlet might be behind the tunnel blocked by the rockfall. So he and Copper start clearing the rocks. After hours of work, an opening is created and Gimlet emerges. Gimlet and Cub look exhausted so Copper offers to go fetch some food while they rest and keep watch over the cave on the other side of the chasm. Meanwhile, Trapper, who had been left to guard Gimlet's car, is to watch Knifey's house. Gimlet and Cub see two men emerge from the cave. They are complaining about Rocheter wasting time taking photographs and drawing maps of the cave. A man comes running up the ledge. There's a "big guy with a bag" approaching, he says. Chapter XI: Toni Gets a Job Knifey sends Toni to get rid of the "big guy". Gimlet and Cub decide to intervene. They climb out of the pit to find Toni, with his back to them, confronting Copper. But before they can do anything, the dog runs up and leaps at Tomi, biting him in the leg and then the hand. Toni tries to escape but falls off a cliff. Chapter XII: Copper Comes Back This chapter title is a bit of a misnomer: Copper is already back. Knifey and fellow gang member Bandy come looking for Toni. They find his gun and blood and leave unsettled and puzzled. Copper watches the top of the pit while Gimlet and Cub go down again to observe the cave opening. The gang is arguing among themselves. Rocheter is worried. he wants to pull out and come back another time. The others say there is no other time--they don't want to do this again. Knifey, on the other hand, wants the best of both.. He decides that they should go back to their house and come back the next day to retrieve an "angel with the beautiful face" and then pull out. Perhaps they can return another time. Chapter XIII: The Secret of the Cave With the gang gone, Gimlet and co. enter the cave. Now the secret is revealed. It's full of beautiful ancient statues! Many in pristine condition and the collection is priceless, Gimlet admits it should have occured to him earlier, what with the talk about prefering dames alive and Rocheter being an art collector. Meanwhile Cub feels a little silly to mistake a statue for the corpse of a woman. A fog descends over the mountaintop. There are pistol shots. It must be from Copper! With great difficulty, Gimlet and Cub clamber over the rocky crags of the mountain to the ruins. They rejoin Copper who explains that a gang member had showed up looking for Toni and had exchanged fire with him. Chapter XIV: Trapper Takes a Turn The fog lifts by morning and Gimlet decides to go to Nicosia to report to the Governor. Cub and Copper are to keep watch over the cave. They see Knifey's gang moving another statue. There are gunshots on the mountain top. Knifey had left two men there to watch for strangers. He decides to go reinforce them and clean up the place. Rocheter is not so keen on violence and stays behind. To Copper and Cub, it sounds like Gimlet is in trouble so they decide to go to help. From the lip of the pit, Copper notices it is not Gimlet but Trapper! But they can't support Trapper from there, so Copper suggests that he goes back through the tunnel, descend the chasm and then work his way up around to take Knifey's gang in the rear. Meanwhile, with Trapper giving covering fire, Cub manages to leave the pit and join him among the ruins. Chapter XV: Nature Intervenes Trapper explains that Gimlet had sent him up to tell them to descend immediately. There is a warning of an impending earthquake! But Copper could still be down among the tunnels! Cub and Trapper make a dash for the pit pursued by Knifey and his gang. They make their way through the tunnels. The walls are already convulsing and rocks are falling but reach the end of the tunnel and descend the chasm. They climb up on the other side to see Rocheter. He's distraught and terrified and agrees to go with them. The three of them climb to the mountain top to find Copper safe and sound. He has just taken one of the gang members prisoner. As for Knifey and the rest, they have been buried in the tunnels and are beyond rescue--the pit entrance had collapsed and filled with rubble. The cave with the statues is also buried by rocks. Descending the mountain, Cub and the rest meet Gimlet just returned from Nicosia. They go to the village to help in relief efforts. Rocheter is taken to meet the Governor. The American is allowed to leave provided he promises not to come to Cyprus again. He must also return all the artefacts he had taken and hand over copies of his photos. The strange case ends with news that Rocheter is applying for permission to finance an expedition to excavate the cave and retrieve the remaining artworks in the cave. It might be a tedious and expensive operation but he is prepared to spend his entire fortune. He, at least, is not motivated purely by financial gain. Category:Plot summaries